


Pocket Full of Poses

by Identiaetslos



Series: Alex Ryder Story Arcs [7]
Category: Mass Effect Andromeda
Genre: Angst, F/F, Lots of Angst, Reri, Romance, This romance is nothing but angst until way late in the game, and some more angst, did I mention it was super angsty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-02-14 14:24:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13009728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Identiaetslos/pseuds/Identiaetslos
Summary: Alex Ryder has been asked to do a celebrity calendar. Out of selfishness, Keri has volunteered to do the photoshoot.





	1. Chapter 1

“So you just had to volunteer right?” Alex asked, turning around as the door to her quarters parted. She smiled mischievously at Keri T'Vessa. Keri gave one of her usual expressions that feigned innocence and shrugged her shoulder.

“Exactly. I'm not one to toot my own horn, but I'm not a bad photographer, I know you well enough, and well...part of me didn't like the idea of anyone else taking pictures of you. At least not the ones I've imagined.” Keri leaned up against the door and smiled as the Pathfinder got red in her cheeks and looked at the ornate wooden floor of her cabin.

The Tempest was empty except the two of them and SAM, the rest of the crew enjoying themselves on the Nexus somewhere. Most likely Vortex, Keri mused, moving from the door jam letting it close behind her. She hadn't picked this location, just ran with the idea when Kandros had come to her with it. On a second thought, there may have been a degree of mockery in proposing that Alex pose for a calendar, but the motivations were sound as was raising money for additional supplies for the science labs. After convincing Alex to agree to it, Keri had brought it to Nexus leadership. Of course, Tann thought it a brilliant idea that would bolster his ideals of hope and prosperity, or more to the point, his ego. It was with that in mind, that the Initiative Director suggested the Tempest as a location, vacant of course to showcase the might of an Initiative Scout Ship along with the growing sex appeal of the human Pathfinder. However, Foster Addison had sealed the location choice with a snicker behind her eye. Knowing the Colonial Director's streak of mischievousness, Keri suspected that she had done this to be cruel.

Other than the environmental control systems and the rustling of the hamster in his cage, it was quiet, the bright simulated sunlight streaming through the panoramic windows that afforded Alex Ryder a breathtaking view of this galaxy, one that Keri was yet to explore. At least while she was awake.This was Keri's first time aboard, and Alex had spared no expense showing her around. Despite her earlier declaration of wanting to keep things professional until her documentary was over, Keri found herself slipping her arm around Alex as they passed from compartment to compartment, Alex gesturing at everything, explaining little details that were all Prothean to the HNS reporter, a gleam about the Pathfinder's dark eyes that Keri couldn't help but get lost in. Like now.

At this moment, Keri wanted to be an explorer of her. Feeling slightly ashamed at the degree of selfishness that found her alone in the middle of this very romantic room with a woman with whom the desire for something more was a mutual goal. That was the promise Keri had made once her documentary was concluded. Though, keeping to it had been a test. To her credit, Alex had the patience of a Justicar. Unlike Keri who found that the longer the days grew, the deeper in love she fell with this handsome, charismatic woman. Keri moved away from the doorway and sat on Alex's bed, sheets taunt enough for her to bounce a camera off. Or maybe a Pathfinder... _no no, Keri_ she scolded, avoiding those deep, dark eyes that would surely undress her as much as her fingers could ever.

Alex always kept her space tidy, and even places that were not her space, she mused, recalling the unplanned visit to her apartment and the chaos that she left behind. Everything was tidy, in their places, uniforms hung against the wall, neatly arranged based on task and color; throw blanket folded on a leather ottoman, papers and datapads stacked neatly. Both their fathers would be pleased. Well, except for the soldier part.

 _"Never fall in love with a soldier,"_ Renata would say, staring at Keri's father as he played with one of her sisters or chuckled over some news scrawl. _"They'll break your heart."_

 _"Especially a human."_ Liara had joked, tears around her eyes as she drowned herself in brandy one night, fingers caressing the edges of her lost lover's tags. Keri helped her hunt Korynn Shepard's killers, but had been silently afraid of the madness that consumed the once serene scientist and used that to guard herself against Alex the day she met her.

Yet here she was. She hadn't understood until now.

“Where do you want to do this? Here?” Alex asked, the light catching face as it contorted around words that Keri realized she was barely registering. Alex fidgeted with her hands before shoving them into the pockets of that bloody sweatshirt that she insisted on wearing. Not that Keri really had any room to critique Alex's sense of fashion seeing as she had different outfits to choose from, whereas Keri still found herself stuck with the hideous white and turquoise uniform she had been given.

“Well, here would be good," Keri replied, doing her best to ignore the fact that Alex was just as nervous and looked as though she were more interested in getting lost on this bed with Keri. "I um...the colors are nice and warm and I think that would suit your natural color palette." Alex took a seat next to her and brushed a strand of dark hair from her brow that had come loose from her hair tie. The sunlight created dark shadows against Pathfinder's ovular features that emphasized the ferociousness of the Pathfinder Ryder that sometimes came with the pictures Alex sent from the field. The one that carried guns, hurled biotics like a Commando, and sometimes had blood splattered on the plates of her armor. The one that never failed to send her a letter telling her she was alive and well and thinking of her. It was the same lion that Keri knew was not too far beneath the surface of this beautiful face. It was something that she wanted to capture, but in studying the elegant lines of her high cheekbones, babyfaced cheeks, supple lips that were mere centimeters from her, alone, in this room, on this ship, she realized that might be a difficult task.

Alex stirred and she reached behind her head, pulling her hair tie loose, strands of hair the color of the sky just outside this space station, shimmering in the light from the sun as it fell across her face, casting even more shadows and creating a cloud of musky warmth mixed with floral shampoo.

“You normally wear it up,” Keri said, confusion knitting her brow.

“Exactly. This will add an element of rogue to the prim and proper images they normally see. The idea behind the calendar is to give people something to look at.”

“True,” Keri replied. “Right now, you're giving something for me to look at,” she blurted out. 

"That was also the idea." Alex flirted through cheeks as red as Keri's were dark blue.

Unaccustomed to seeing Alex like this, the Keri brushed a hand through her hair, deciding whether this would work for her and also curious as to how it felt, how she felt. Alex didn't stir. Her eyes were soft, warm, danced dangerously.

It was clear that she didn't mind Keri's fingertips kneading along her scalp, more playing with her hair than she was rearranging it. Pulling some of Alex's hair over her eye, she smiled at the change in the light patterns along the Pathfinder's beautiful face. Alex smiled in return, those midnight colored irises going to her lips and then her collar as if she were trying to look down her shirt at her breasts.

Part of Keri was tempted to remove her chest plate and pull her shirt down more to give the object of her fancy what she wanted. Would it stop there? Keri reminded herself that her documentary was unfinished, which meant Alex was likely feeling the pressure of keeping her promise, no matter how tempting it was to steal a kiss, push her to the bed, let Alex peel her out of her clothes with a trail of kisses along her lavender skin. Keri squirmed as the idea pulsed between her legs. It was useless to lie to herself, she wouldn't put up any struggle at all, and the temptation of what the Alex's lips would feel like against hers tugged hard against her better judgment.

"I don't think here is a good idea,” Alex said. Her voice was soft, breathy.

Realizing that rearranging Alex's hair had turned into petting the Pathfinder, Keri withdrew. “Sorry, I uh...no...you're right," she stammered, her cheeks turning into a dark violet. "I um...the light...I'm afraid you'd look washed out.” Keri rose to her feet and fidgeted. “Perhaps the cargo bay, or there's the weapons locker you showed me, we could get some with a gun or two in your hand,” she made a finger gun in an embarrassing gesture to simulate a cowboy, hoping it would be enough to put a damper on the mood.

Alex laughed. “Okay, but I will suggest the doors remain open.”

“Me too,” was the reply from Keri, her cheeks still flushed with embarrassment. “Also lose the sweatshirt before we leave.”

"Okay," Alex said quickly and grabbed the hem and moved like she was going to undress right in front of Keri.

"No, Alex!" Keri said panicked and darted from the room, knowing that she would like too much what Alex had to show her.

Leaning up against the bulkhead just outside the door, Keri heard Alex say, "I love teasing you." The door parted and Ryder tugged at the base of the black Initiative uniform tunic that Keri liked. It had gotten more snug around the arms and shoulders since the last time Keri had seen it.

"I know," Keri said, lifting her eyes to give Alex a coy expression. It was matched oh so dangerously and for a split second, Keri was brazed by the smolder in those dark eyes. Whatever they were using as detergent on the ship smelled wonderful as did she. Absently, Keri tugged at the elbows of Alex's sleeves and pushed her cuffs up farther along her forearms so as to expose the soft olive skin, wrapped in tattoos. Lucky that she had the presence of mind to keep her gloves on otherwise Keri was certain she wouldn't make it any farther. Judging by the expression on Alex's face, she was skirting dangerously close to the line of being pulled back into the Pathfinder's cabin.

"I think we should start closer to the Infirmary...some place that isn't so tempting." Alex's voice was breathless, her lips swollen as she searched Keri while fighting the urge to kiss her.

 _Yes..._ Was Keri's but her head replied with a no as she agreed to Alex's suggestion and let herself be dragged farther into the ship. What had she gotten herself into?


	2. Chapter 2

The first part of the shoot was in the various living spaces around the Tempest: The bridge, the crew quarters, Med-Bay, science labs. Perhaps it was the earlier flirtation, or the fact that Alex was so easy on the eyes, Keri's camera seemed to love her. Pouty faces, serious faces, dark shadows created by the surprisingly soft lighting in areas gave rise to a volume of pictures that Keri knew was going to be impossible for her to choose from. Hakim would definitely be needed as an unbiased judge of what should stay or what should go, though she would be keeping the discards for herself.

The last thought tickled her cheeks as Alex obeyed a previous command and sat on the research table on the main level of the ship, legs crossed and dangling in delightful innocence. She still wore her black Initiative uniform tunic and flexed slightly for the benefit of both calendar audience and her private one

“Now, maybe something where it looks like you're contemplating,” Keri said to Alex.

“Like this?” Alex's face contorted and she looked as though she were confused about the ceiling.

“Mmm...maybe,” Keri said with a frown, looking into her Omni-Tool as she tried to center her camera on Ryder more.

Alex's face stretched again into something comical.

Keri couldn't help laughing and dropped the display on her wrist, pinching the bridge of her nose as she continued to giggle.

“I like doing that." Her face fell serious. “Your laugh could light up this galaxy.”

Keri stopped and looked at her in amusement. "That's a line." She joked as she always did, careful to keep Ryder at arms length but also close enough that her gaze never wavered. It didn't, nor did she argue at the accusation and instead chose to look cute. It was no use fighting Alex Ryder. She was always going to win. "We're um...going to lose the light,” Keri said finally, referring to the simulated daylight streaming in from the conference room up top and the panoramic windows that allowed the light to reflect beautifully off the otherwise sterile bulkheads of the scout ship.

“Oh shit, is that going on now?” Alex asked, shifting her position and changing her expression again.

Better.

Keri snapped a photo.

“What?” The HNS reporter asked, snapping a second photo.

“The day/night cycle thing. Kesh said the last time we were here that it was still being implemented,” Alex replied.

“Yeah, that started a few days before you got here. I'll tell you, it's so much nicer now that I can actually sleep."

"I bet. That time I stayed with you, it was unbearable. Pretty sure those sunlamps caused me to throw up as much as the alcohol."

Keri smiled more to herself than she did to Alex, her mind pouring over memories of rescuing the object of her affection and her work from the clutches of the struggle she faced out there in the real world. The one that tainted the smiles of the woman she loved with a darkness that she seldom talked about; that broke her that one night. That was the other caveat to what Mother had been trying to tell her. How many nights had her mother stayed up worrying, caring for a broken father home from the field and with a head filled with horrors. Nightmares unlike those were also a preview into the future Keri wanted with Alex.

An embarrassed silence filled the air between them.

Alex looked apologetic and grateful.

Keri found herself more in love than she had been before and told her as much.

The Pathfinder relaxed her posture and a small smile had curled around the corners of her lips, hair hung in her face from earlier and she pushed it behind her head in a way that caught the light just at the right moment, taking Keri's breath away.

Alex's expression changed and she grinned as she changed her pose to something over-the-top and suggestive, pushing her chest out and raising her brow.

Keri couldn't help a giggle as her cheeks flushed. Inspired by Alex's playfulness, Keri flirted back with a suggestive posture and seductive face of her own, which Alex responded to with yet another pose. This was perfect. Forget all the other photos. She snapped another one and giggled as Alex seemed to get into it more as she arched her back and pushed her ass out before swinging her leg onto the lip of the table and laying out on her side, her head propped up under her chin.

“Draw me like one of your asari girls?” Alex joked in an overly dramatic voice.

Keri laughed and took another picture. “That would mean more if I put you in one of my old dresses.”

“That's a thought.” The Pathfinder's expression changed. “I have an idea. Toss me that shitty tank top will you?” She gestured at the wadded up cloth on a crate behind Keri.

Walking over, Keri grabbed it and tossed it to her. Alex was now sitting on the edge of the table. “You're not going to...?” Keri started, mortified at the idea that Alex was going to strip down half naked in the middle of the ship and right in front of her.

“Turn around!” Alex said, swatting her hand.

Keri obliged, and tried not to make out the silhouette of Alex Ryder moving in the ultra-shiny metal bulkhead.

“Okay,” Alex said.

Turning around, Keri was greeted by an Alex Ryder that wasn't quite half-naked but close enough to it. Her muscles, which were a lot more defined since the last time Keri had seen them, seemed like they were almost spilling out of the arm holes and the open sides to the shirt.

As the simulated light faded to mimic late afternoon moving into dusk, the ship had responded by bringing up the lights to the terminal displays and the holographic image behind the Pathfinder, casting a blue glow across the room and Alex making the patchwork of tattoos that swirled and crisscrossed along her skin seem darker. The tanktop had been turned inside out to hide the logo that she guessed she hated and she laid back across the lip of the research console in the same pose as she had been in before.

The open sides of the tank fell across Alex's midsection, revealing her taut stomach and another network of tattoos. Her expression was less sarcastic, but something was amiss.

“Can you try moving your hair more in front of your face?” Keri asked.

At that, Alex flipped her dark locks so that they completely obscured her. “How do I look now?”

Keri laughed so hard that she had to brace herself against the wall. “You are so incorrigible!” She shouted playfully. “You said I should draw you like an asari not a dog!”

“Woof!” The hair puffed. Alex flexed her arms and stomach muscles suggestively before rolling off the console.

“Very sexy,” she added as the Pathfinder shook her hair back behind her head, smile still tugging at the corner of her lips.

That warranted a picture.

Keri approached to take a few more, smiling in amusement at the silliness of Alex Ryder. Not always with a joke, just ones she was comfortable making with her. Hakim had warned Keri that it might just be a ploy to seduce her, but having gotten close to Alex, it didn't seem that way. Outwardly, Alex was a reserved, private person to others she didn't know or wasn't comfortable with. Once she had gotten close, this beautiful person that was before her now, bright with humor, and with eyes that twinkled in the growing ambient light of the ship came alive, her smile lighting up everything in Keri's world. Despite that, there was a pain that Alex was careful to deflect anyone away from, including Keri. At first, Keri had suspected it had to do with the death of her father and her rapid ascension to the role of Pathfinder, and all of the tragedies that came with it. However, as their relationship had gotten more serious, it seemed as though Alex had escaped into Andromeda with demons nipping at her heels.

Alex adorably pushed another hand through her hair and twisted her body, realizing that she was still being photographed, flexing her stomach muscles though it wasn't really necessary as they already created graceful dimples across her flesh. “You would say that if I was wearing a potato sack,” Alex quipped, and adjusted the straps of the tank on her muscular shoulders so it fell back into place.

Behind the Pathfinder, was a stack of crates that Alex went to and leaned up against them, tugging at the hem of her shirt to stretch it past her cleavage, which Keri wasn't subtle at admiring. There was no need, Alex knew how she felt, and being objectified by her photographer only seemed to fuel her even more. Selfishly, it also gave Keri even more eye candy to drool over in the back of her mind as Alex bent over, squishing her boobs together, giving Keri a decent view down the front of her shirt and her bra.

It was like foreplay, but without the sex. “Do you know if there are any potato sacks aboard?” Keri joked, feeling her face flush, her eyes lingering on her chest.

Any seriousness left on Alex's face was dashed by a bright laugh and a smile bright enough to light the ship on her own. “There aren't, but I did have an idea of something we could do.”

The Pathfinder moved closer. Absently, Keri took Alex's hand and played with her fingers. The way the light danced across the walls, reminded her of being under the pear tree in Hydroponics, leaned over the railing on the second level and sharing a conversation with this delectable woman about budding fruit and sturdy branches, Alex's body leaned against hers, touching her delicately just like this; Keri toying with the idea of finally getting to breathe her in under a canopy of obsidian colored locks that fell about her face and what Alex would feel like pressing down on top of her, those muscular arms pinning her to her bed. Gripping Alex by her waist, Keri half thought about pushing her against the console, locking her into a deep kiss, clouds of dark energy swirling together in chaotic confusion while her hands slipped between Alex's thighs. A flicker in Alex's expression indicated she was struggling with similar thoughts.

“Not this...” Alex said softly, taking one of Keri's hands and lacing her fingers between hers. “Not yet.”

Alex kissed her hand and let go of her. “You stay there...” she said, retreating across the glass gangplank to the open door to the bridge. “Nobody's on this ship so this door can stay open...just...stay there...”


	3. Chapter 3

The cool material of the pressure suit felt soothing against Alex’s warm thighs as she fumbled with it, stretching it over her person and strapping the plates over the top of it. She didn’t remember it being this difficult, even in the heat of battle.

How one asari could reduce her to this fleshy mush was beyond her...well...it wasn’t. She knew exactly why.

“Pathfinder, I am detecting elevated levels of neurotransmitters in your system that correlate with nervousness in the human body. Perhaps stopping for a moment and taking a breath would be wise.” SAM was right as always and Alex paused, her mind still resting on the last image of Keri, looking beautiful with that lost look of desire that often rested on her face. She’d be a terrible poker player, Alex mused, not that she ever wanted Keri to hide her feelings from her.

But what of Keri’s request?

“What am I doing?” Alex asked mostly to the locker in front of her, but also to the AI in her head. As if he knew.

“Presuming you refer to your relationship with Ms. T’Vessa and not your actual activity, you appear to be dressing yourself in your field armor with the purpose of taking additional pictures of her. And in my experience with you, to impress her.”

SAM was correct again. Though hearing it repeated back to her, made her stop.

Alex let out a puff of air and looked at her reflection in Peebee’s nearby mirror. The armor she pulled out was her field armor, custom black and not the blue and white of issued armors; something she’d only sent Keri a few pictures of and not something that she’d made public.

“Impress her...” Alex said and let her voice trail off and thought. Seeing her in her uniform was one of Keri’s favorite things. “Seduce her is more like it.”

Alex chuckled and moved her hands up to her collar to take it off. She felt guilty. Keri had asked her here out of a professional need and here she was. Keri didn’t need to be impressed by suits of armor, she was impressed by respect and honesty. Neither of those things Alex was displaying.

“I don’t want to seduce her,” Alex ventured.

“Alex, if I may be so bold, your reaction when she is near tell me otherwise. As do her reactions when you are near.”

Alex couldn’t help a smile at that thought. Her cheeks warmed. “Really?”

“While I can’t claim to be an expert in asari courting, the change in her neck scales and pulse when you address her is consistent with physiological texts on the subject. As is her restlessness. I will also note that while you were away, Ms. T’Vessa researched your name a total of thirty-five times.”

Alex’s blush worsened. “She’s a reporter, SAM.” She let out an embarrassed giggle. “That’s good to know I um...”

“I will note, Pathfinder, that you, yourself have researched Ms. T’Vessa a total of fifty-one times.”

“Yeah yeah. And I keep her picture at my desk, her last letter in my Omni-Tool, and I only think about her all the time. I’m crazy about her, SAM.” Just as Alex pulled her hair behind her head, a knock at the doorway, pulled her from her thoughts.

“Is it safe?” Keri asked.

Alex felt her heart leap and she nodded to the open doorway. “Yes. Please, Keri I uh...” her voice trailed off as Keri came around the corner, a small smile on her face, and the warm light from the instruments catching her in just the right way.

Keri’s eyes looked her over and color rose along her neck scales as SAM had pointed out earlier and she struggled with a smile for a moment. “That will look wonderful,” she said, her voice breaking a little as she snapped back to serious and professional.

Alex approached but kept her distance nervously.

Keri fidgeted with her fingers. “Look, Alex. I don’t want to pressure you into something that makes things uncomfortable. In fact, I should apologize for this...all of this. You and I...we shouldn’t be up here.” She stopped herself and met Alex’s gaze and looked guilty in a way that broke Alex’s heart. “I haven’t been entirely honest with you. Director Addison did ask for me to do this project, but I volunteered...I um...” Keri laughed nervously and turned a darker shade of lavender. “Here you are, you look so beautiful and I um...I wanted to be near you.”

Even though she knew, the admission was still enough to make Alex’s heart stop for a moment and then thud nervously in her chest. “You heard huh...”

Keri looked confused. “Heard?”

Alex turned a bright shade of red. “Nevermind.”

Keri looked embarrassed and even more guilty. “I should go,” she said and turned to leave the bridge.

“No.” Alex said in a panic and came around the corner and took Keri’s hand. What was she doing?

Keri didn’t resist and paused.

“Here I was feeling guilty for having thoughts about you.” Alex’s words floated on thin breaths.

The “sun” outside the ship had faded into a violet dusk, the lights from the completed buildings across the Nexus beginning to twinkle along with the swirling Scourge overhead. SAM had brought the ambient lighting down and the instrument lighting up, creating an even more romantic atmosphere about the ship.

“Smooth...” Alex said quietly.

Keri lifted a questioning brow.

“SAM. He um...I think he’s bent on playing matchmaker with a match that’s already been made.”

Keri laughed nervously and moved farther into the bridge, eyes flitting over the controls in a curious way a reporter would, but she seemed to set aside the journalist for a moment and faced Alex. “We should talk about this...us...”

Alex nodded, trying not to entertain the dread those words in her mind conjured.

Keri placed a soothing hand on Alex’s arm. “Not like that. I don’t mean to scare you,” she apologized.

“Keri...” Alex’s voice trailed off. Her touch felt so good, so right.

Keri’s eyes were soft, searching. It was as though Alex was seeing the treasured person she’d only caught glimpses of. She wanted to embrace her, love her. Keri didn’t pull away, and instead pulled Alex closer, her eyes moving to her lips as she reached out with her own and closed her eyes as Alex closed hers.

“No...” Alex breathed and leaned her forehead against Keri’s. Her heart pounded in her throat and for a moment she wondered if she might throw up all over Keri. The feeling subsided and she offered Keri a nervous chuckle. “I mean yes...I want this.” Alex turned serious and dipped her head until Keri’s lavender irises were locked with hers. “I want you.”

“You have me,” Keri replied. A conflicted smile fluttered across her lips and she spoke sentences with her eyes that neither had words for. She gently let go and took on a mischievous grin. “Against the chair,” she commanded.

Alex lifted her brows and her cheeks reddened.

This caused Keri to laugh and she bit her lip flirtatiously and gestured with her hand.

Realizing that Keri wanted her to pose against the backdrop of the Nexus, Alex backed up against the chair and did so.

\- - - - - -

Keri’s heart was in her nose. Alex looked more than handsome against the darkening sky and the twinkling lights of the ship’s instrumentation. The smell of the Pathfinder still lingered in her nose and the feel of her body echoed loudly in the form of temptation.

“Focus, Keri,” she said to herself and aimed her camera on the sight before her. The armor Alex wore was the same one in the last picture she sent Keri privately, not the ones Keri chose to publish. It was a mix of Angaran and Alliance technology, and made of black and grey camouflage with the Initiative emblem stenciled on her shoulder.

Even from this distance, her eyes could make out nicks and discolorations which were from fights that she hadn’t written about. It was easy to forget that it wasn’t just the survival of the Initiative that was at stake, but everyone else including her own.

Keri snapped her first picture and gestured for Alex to change her posture. She did so, displaying her powerful legs and the ferocity behind those dark eyes. “Very good,” she praised, hoping that the breath suddenly catching in her lungs didn’t give her away.

It did and Alex suppressed a smile that was too good for Keri not to take a picture of. Around Alex’s abdomen looked like a slice in her armor that had been repaired. Keri guessed a Kett weapon, but on closer inspection, it resembled an awful lot like a blade issued to elite Asari Commandos. The cut had been deep and in a place she knew to be dangerous for humans.

Keri stopped and lowered her camera.

Alex’s face changed and she followed her eyes, touching her hand to the mark on her uniform. “Ran into some trouble on Kadara. I don’t remember her name.” Alex’s voice clipped at the end and she looked troubled.

Keri came closer and placed her hand on Alex’s. “I’m sorry I shouldn’t have.”

Alex shook her head and smiled through the visible pain in her eyes. “You didn’t. But here, you’re taking pictures of me.”

“So I am.” Keri let herself linger on Alex, searching her to try and heal her soul. It was a harder task than she could accomplish, especially in one night, one that she hoped Dr. T’Perro was working on. Knowing Lexi, the answer was as hard as Alex would allow. She knew from Lexi that Alex could be stubborn and that a few close calls had damaged her.

This was one of those close calls wasn’t it? How long before luck ran out for Alex Ryder? It was so easy to be complacent.

“I’m remembering some words of wisdom a friend once told me,” Keri said cautiously and ran her hand along the slice in Alex’s armor. “She also echoed my mother when she told me never to fall in love with a soldier...or a human...” Keri stopped herself. Realizing the words she had spoken she blushed purple in embarrassment and tore herself from Alex.

“Keri?” Alex said quietly. She hadn’t moved from where she was. Her mouth moved as though she was struggling with excitement and she quickly sat down in the pilot’s chair.

“What are you doing?” Keri asked.

Alex’s hands glided over the controls and she ordered SAM to help her with the engine startup sequence.

“...I know, SAM. Just keep me alerted and I’ll deal with Kallo later,” Alex argued with the AI in her head.

Keri had heard her do it before and it never stopped being cute, or another reminder of the woman she actually was. The ship jolted as it came free from her moorings and Keri gripped onto the back of Alex’s chair as it broke through the Nexus atmosphere.

Just below the ship was the unremarkable planet the Nexus orbited, but just ahead were pale dots of other planets in the system, stars, and the tendrils of Scourge that lurked not far from this home. Keri felt a lot smaller, like she did when she was alone on the ocean back in the old home.

Alex’s hands expertly glided the ship through the heavens, like a schooner that caught the wind just right, skirting the rings of a nearby planet, and through the dust fields around an asteroid belt close to the edge of the system. Keri had seen space a million times, but like this, the way Alex saw it, it was the most magnificent thing she’d ever seen.

Remembering herself, Keri, switched on her camera and let it catch the moment, along with how Alex looked at the controls: Another reminder of the person she was.

“You like the calm of the ocean, I like the calm of the stars,” Alex said. She maneuvered the Tempest into a high orbit around the same planet as the Nexus.

“Will you get in trouble?” Keri asked cautiously.

“Probably.” Alex lifted her gaze and smiled warmly at Keri. She pushed out of her chair and rose back to her full height. Already, Alex was taller than Keri, though the armor added a few inches.

Keri’s inadvertent confession wasn’t lost on Alex and she looked thoughtful a moment before holding out her hand.

“I promise I won’t bite,” Alex said.

Keri took it. “I don’t think I’d mind it if you did,” she flirted.

Alex laughed awkwardly and led her back into the rest of the ship. “Keri...I um..before you came and got me a few moments ago, I...” her voice trailed off and she looked frustrated at herself for a moment. She stopped midway through the gangplank connecting the bridge to the rest of the ship. “I’m in love.”

The words hung in the air between them that Keri couldn’t help but fill with swirls of biotic energy. A simple gesture that Alex understood all too well and called up her own biotic energy.

Keri watched it mingle in a togetherness, like light kisses, that made her jealous of its ability to touch her. Would anyone seriously judge her work? It was all but obvious, and as soon as it was all over and if what happened what she knew was going to happen anyway: The reporter who ended up falling in love with the interview subject. How was that better or worse than…?

Rolling her eyes at her own foolishness, Keri grabbed Alex by her waist and kissed her lips.

It was as though a bubble had been popped and out poured everything trapped behind her heart. Keri opened her mouth and embraced Alex, her hands wrapping around her body, her world filling with the touch and flavor of the woman she loved. After what seemed an eternity, Alex pulled away. Her black eyes glittered under the dimmed soft lights of the ship, her breath threaded and damp.

Keri’s heart threatened to beat out of her chest and she giggled shakily.

Alex giggled in return and kissed Keri again.

Keri made a noise and reluctantly let her go. “Better not. The idea is for both of us to keep our clothes on for now. I still have my documentary to finish.”

Alex looked guilty a moment and nodded.

“No, I didn’t mean...” Keri let out a puff of frustrated air and watched Alex walk farther into the ship. “I kissed _you_!” She shouted and ran after her.

\- - - - - -

Alex trembled nervously and stopped. Running away wasn’t the answer. It was the last thing she wanted. Her mind swirled with images and the way Keri felt. She wanted more than anything to take her now and push her against the research console and start this, but she’d made Keri a promise. Then it dawned on her, “it’s already started isn’t it?” She asked dumbly.

Keri’s face melted into an amused smile. “I suppose so. From the moment I caught myself thinking about you outside of a professional context.”

“When was that?” Alex flirted.

“Right after you’d gone through that door into Tann’s office.”

Alex laughed softly.

“Pathfinder, pardon the interruption, but you have an incoming transmission from Director Addison,” SAM broke in.

“Tell her that everything is okay, SAM, and we’re just getting the last few shots for Keri’s thing and we’ll be back,” Alex replied. It was like ice water on the moment and she offered Keri a relieved smile.

“I suppose we better get a move on, then. Where was it you were taking me?”


End file.
